Building a leather workshop

[Schno]

I went through my garage and I've cleared out 40 square feet of room (8' x 5') with enough clearance to get around easily on all sides. Unfortunately, due to the layout of my garage (which also serves as our walk-in closet), I don't have a wall to anchor against, so it's all free standing. I'm a complete neophyte when it comes to making things out of wood, so I'm kind of trying to work this out by reasonable guesswork. I'm planning on 1/2" plywood for a table top, supported by 4x4s (too much?) I want to leave as much space as possible underneath for bins and storage.

Here's the area I have to work with:

And here's the plan I've come up with for my ideal work area:

So if you had 40 square feet for a leathershop, what would you do with it?

[jbird]

howdy!

So for my $.02 this is what I do every day other than leather I am a furnitre cabinet bulider and builder any way the layout looks fine but 1/2 inch plywood is not good enough in my opinion use 3/4 plywood and were you are thinking about 4x4 posts I would build a basic box out of plywood and put shelfs in them screw these to the ply wood top, other wise it will not be stable for pounding and sewing plus you kill to birds with one stone. With it being free standing you must make it stable or you will not be happy. One trick you can use is to build the boxes so you can ad wieght like a sand bag or something. Well good luck hope this was not hard to understand.

Josh

[UKRay]

Schno, I'd definitely go with Josh on the thicker plywood. The thinner stuff would be a misery to work on as everything will bounce and jump about too much. The box idea is a good one too.

Whn I built my workroom I was fortunate to find some well made, solid oak ex-library tables and just resurfaced them with larger chunks of heavy sheet material to make them fit the available space. IMHO, especially if cost is an issue, I would suggest you go this route. Find existing furniture with built in storage (solid old desks are great) and resurface with ply or something similar (maybe raised up on battens to take your inset slab) to make them fit exactly into the space you have allocated. You might also want to add some provision for template, lace and strap storage plus a proper 'self-healing' cutting surface as this will save your knife blades and your temper! LOL

[Schno]

IMHO, especially if cost is an issue, I would suggest you go this route. Find existing furniture with built in storage (solid old desks are great) and resurface with ply or something similar (maybe raised up on battens to take your inset slab) to make them fit exactly into the space you have allocated.

I definitely like the idea of building off of a pre-existing base. I can probably find a decent oak desk on craigslist.com for cheap.

I would build a basic box out of plywood and put shelfs in them screw these to the ply wood top, other wise it will not be stable for pounding and sewing plus you kill to birds with one stone.

I'm not entirely sure I get the plywood box idea. Wouldn't that require that the backside of the box be closed? I'd like to be able to access the area underneath my workbench from either side. I do suppose it would be more solid, though. I'll have to think about that one a bit.

1/2 inch plywood is not good enough in my opinion use 3/4

Thanks for the warning! 3/4 definitely sounds sturdier and it's not really all that more expensive

So, aside from a vice are there any other generic table-top tools that you guys find especially useful to have mounted somewhere? I was considering a buffing/grinding wheel combo...

[DCKNIVES]

Well, I'll be the odd man out.Working in small shops and my garage my whole life has given me an appreciation for being efficient.Since it will be in the center of the room my thoughts would be to have a bench that is somewhat mobile. I would look into a couple of roll-away tool box bottom cabinets and attach your top to them with clamps or bolt them together.Additional cabinets and add-ons can be added using thumb screws.The roll-aways have brakes to keep it in place and will offer alot of storage room.I use a couple for my knife and leather supplies and love them, and should I need to move them I can easily. Just a thought.Dave

[Meleck]

Check the free section of the Plans Now website ( http://www.plansnow.com/mdplans.html ). They have a few workbenches you can base your worktable on. You may also want to check this site for free plans .They have desk and workbenches plans. Some of them are pretty involved but the office desk ( http://ourhouse.ninemsn.com.au/ourhouse/fa...shop/08/896.asp ) seems fairly easy to realize.
For the table top, I recommend a technique I learned from the Shopnote magazine. You can use MDF as a body for your table top. It's a little heavier and more stable than plywood. To avoid the problem that MDF has of absorbing water, you glue a piece of 1/4" hardboard over the MDF. You can also use double-sided tape to be able to replace the hardboard. The hardboard is very resistant to pounding but not that resistant to cutting. Anyhow, it's a stable surface that is remarkebly smooth.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Johanna

[ArtS]

The base for my workbench are two old oak bank desks. Probably from the 1950s. They bug and wide but most of all solid. I have a 3/4" plywood layer on top of that and then a thin (about 1/4) layer of that press board (what they make put holes in for pegboards). I cut the insert for my granite out of the press board and plywood.

ArtS

[Schno]

I've been out of it for a few weeks while I've been building this. But finally, I've made the move from a cramped room in my house where I lived in mortal fear of accidentally dumping dye all over the floor to my garage where I'll live in not quite as mortal fear of dumping dye all over the floor.Here's where I've been working for the last six months:

And this is my new Official Artisan SkinCraft Island of Doom and Sewing Center!

Thanks to everyone for your input and advice. This was my first go at building anything like this. It was a lot of fun to design and build and I learned a lot that I didn't know. Hopefully soon I'll stop sneezing sawdust. It's time to get back to leatherworking!

Edited October 21, 2008 by Schno

[UKRay]

Its far too tidy, Schno - not anywhere near enough tools strewn around and no little bits of leather and edge shavings on the floor. hey there are no dye stains... Sorry, not good enough!

Nice to see it all came together for you. I'm sure you will enjoy it!

[Luke Hatley]

very clean & neat shop....

[Echo4V]

Gotta love Seinfeld- the show about nothing.

Thats a great workspace, I wish I had something even close to that. Also, did you make the bow in the corner of your first workshop?

[calanneh]

Looks like it turned out GREAT Schno!

I hope to be moving from the same cramped area in the house to my garage with-in the next few months.... But alas, I gotta get everybody else's crap outa my garage first!! lol

Great looking shop buddy!!

Will

[BradB]

Man, that is awesome Schno!!! Looks like you got everything within reach and I love the marble inlay, I have got to do that when I build my bench.

I have one question, where did you get that awesome comfortable looking stool???? I love that thing, is it comfortable???

It is time for me to move out of the little area in the open sun porch now that it is cold and find somewhere in the house to setup, trying to talk the wife into letting me convert the formal living room into a workshop. I hate formal living rooms, to me they are the most useless room in a house. I would have to worry about dye on the floor though.. hmmm, I am rambling, I think I may have had to much coffee this morning....

Brad

[Schno]

Its far too tidy, Schno - not anywhere near enough tools strewn around and no little bits of leather and edge shavings on the floor. hey there are no dye stains... Sorry, not good enough!

Oh, just wait until I get started. It will be a catastrophe in no time! I've actually already dyed one spot on it as I was transferring stuff in. I figure it's best to go ahead and get it over with. Fate is inexorable.

Thats a great workspace, I wish I had something even close to that. Also, did you make the bow in the corner of your first workshop?

Nope. I can shoot pointy sticks off of them sometimes, but building bows is beyond me.

I have one question, where did you get that awesome comfortable looking stool???? I love that thing, is it comfortable???

Believe it or not: Harbor Freight. It was about 80 bucks. Once I get some of the commissioned projects off my list, I'm going to make it my first bike seat project. I haven't spent enough time on it to judge it for comfort yet...

[Bree]

I am going to chime in. I like having a BIG table surface. I have a 96" x 30" workbench which I built out of 4" x 4" Douglas Fir legs 2" x 6" stringers and 1 1/2" of MDF with laminate glued to the MDF. It is solid as a rock and big enough to handle large hides. Your work bench needs to be very sturdy, stable and as large as you can make it. Heavy is good.

I have a large cutting mat that sits on the table for most cutting. I use an 18" x 24" x 3" granite surface plate (flat to .0001") on a heavy stand placed at the end of the table for some cutting and most tooling operations. I like having it apart from the table versus inset but that is just my preference. It gives me the ability to clamp stuff to the granite... and move it if need be.

I keep all my sewing machines in a separate room where I only do sewing. I don't want them in the same place as my sometimes dusty workshop. I definitely would be very hesitant about putting my expensive sewing machine(s) near an airbrushing booth. Do you have proper ventilation, negative pressure, and a explosion proof motor on the blower? Do you have a blower?? If you blow volatiles through your airbrush without proper ventilation, you can injure yourself and possibly cause an explosion and/or fire. Be very careful about this aspect. A proper spray booth is pretty expensive because the explosion proof motor is going to cost big dinero.

For your layout and plan, I would suggest a larger insert. The largest you can reasonably fit into your table. You won't regret it.

Also keep your large table surface accessible. So raise up the storage on the left high on the wall (or under the table or both) to make sure that you have left side table accessibility. A clear work table will always be welcome. A cluttered worktable will always be a nuisance.

Also it is a good idea to make certain that your table has a lip so that you can attach clamps to the table lip. You won't regret that lip but you will regret it if you can't attach clamps.

Good luck!

[Schno]

Thanks for the input, Bree. Of course, the horse has kinda left the stable at this point. If you'll scroll back a few posts, you'll see the finished product. I managed to incorporate a few of your ideas. It's definitely a heavy, solid workspace. And it's got plenty of room for the kinds of projects I do.

I'm a bit concerned about this explosion proof blower for the airbrush. I didn't know that airbrushing was quite so risky! The 'booth' in my plan is merely a few pressboard walls with weatherproofing attached at the bottom over a rubber mat. I just want to keep the dye/paint/atomized grape jelly from getting all over the place. (No joke, a friend of mine used grape jelly in his airbrush when he was rushed to finish a piece and didn't have the color!) So, seriously... what's the blower you speak of?

As far as ventilation goes, this is all in my garage, so when I airbrush, I can open the garage door and a I have a whole wall's worth of ventilation. And I have masks and goggles and such. Inhaling Fiebing's does not appeal to me at all!

[Dually]

Schno...You may have neglected to mention that you are a wood craftsman ans well as leather artist. I think most of us thought you were leaning toward a couple of sawhorses and plywood. LOL What you came up with in design, and construction is way cool Congrads.

If you don't mind, enlighten us as to how you reinforced the bench under your slab so you could inset it.

Thanks for the pics.

[Schno]

If you don't mind, enlighten us as to how you reinforced the bench under your slab so you could inset it.

Thanks, Dually! It's funny how one obsession opens the door the next obsession. For me, this all started with archery, then leather, and now wood. I have so much respect for people that can create something beautiful out of some bits of this and pieces of that. This board has an abundance of those kinds of people!

The inset is basically supported beneath by a piece of 3/4 ply mounted to two 2x3's that span the width of the tabletop. There are two more pieces of ply mounted on top of that one, under the stone itself. I used a small stack of paper to shim it up to the exact height of the table. I drilled a hand-sized hole in the middle of the support pieces so I can push up from beneath to remove the slab from the inset if need be.

I've considered mounting some angle braces underneath if there was too much bounce, but so far it doesn't appear necessary. We'll see...

[Bree]

Thanks for the input, Bree. Of course, the horse has kinda left the stable at this point. If you'll scroll back a few posts, you'll see the finished product. I managed to incorporate a few of your ideas. It's definitely a heavy, solid workspace. And it's got plenty of room for the kinds of projects I do.

I'm a bit concerned about this explosion proof blower for the airbrush. I didn't know that airbrushing was quite so risky! The 'booth' in my plan is merely a few pressboard walls with weatherproofing attached at the bottom over a rubber mat. I just want to keep the dye/paint/atomized grape jelly from getting all over the place. (No joke, a friend of mine used grape jelly in his airbrush when he was rushed to finish a piece and didn't have the color!) So, seriously... what's the blower you speak of?

As far as ventilation goes, this is all in my garage, so when I airbrush, I can open the garage door and a I have a whole wall's worth of ventilation. And I have masks and goggles and such. Inhaling Fiebing's does not appeal to me at all!

The deal is simple... if you spray flammable paints, solvents, varnishes etc., you need an explosion-proof blower and explosion proof lights. If you spray volatiles without these things you are violating the law and endangering yourself and your family. Here are some links to look at.

http://www.fmins.com/pdf/safety_SERVICES/S...ay%20Booths.pdf

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Spra...oth_Safety.html

http://www.blowerwheel.com/fans-explosionproof.htm

http://www.briansmodelcars.com/tutorials/tutorial/23

Some solvents are so volatile that they can flash off the flourescents. I remember when I was working as curator of the chem lab and carbon disulfide was only permitted to be opened under special fume hoods because we didn't want it blowing up! One school building at a different university blew up because a student poured it into the trough and down the drain. The vapors rose out of the drain, flashed off the lights, and blew the building apart as it flashed back through the drain system.

Hope that helps a little.

[8thsinner]

I meant to post this the other day but if your short of storage space try using these methods.

If you have lots of punches and flat stuff, but also a smaller selection of larger stuff like mallets, it's possible to do a two tier version, with the larger stuff coming down first, then the smaller one after it.

You can make them as wide as you want really, so putting them so they only come down :

On one side

One on each side

Two beside each other

Is all possible, they are also fairly cheap ad easy to make.

[Windy]

I meant to post this the other day but if your short of storage space try using these methods.

If you have lots of punches and flat stuff, but also a smaller selection of larger stuff like mallets, it's possible to do a two tier version, with the larger stuff coming down first, then the smaller one after it.

You can make them as wide as you want really, so putting them so they only come down :

On one side

One on each side

Two beside each other

Is all possible, they are also fairly cheap ad easy to make.

I am constantly amazed at some of the ideas people come up with.

I just wonder why I never thought of hiding my nail guns in the attic.

WINDY............Wondering what he can hide between his ceiling joists.